Fredrick III

Fredrick III (Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand Freiherr von Steuben III; June 17, 1819 – 17 July 1901), was Baron of House Steuben, and a Grand Duke of the Russian Empire from 20 June 1837 until his death. An American diarist of Germanic origins (on the side of his father), and Silesian origins (on the side of his mother); he was the eldest child of Baron Fredrick II and Baroness Agnes of House Steuben. His two sisters (Baronesses Viktoria and Alexandra) were his only companions after the death of their parents in April 25, 1865 (when Fredrick was forty-five, Viktoria was nineteen, and Alexandra was ten); their parents` deaths hit Alexandra the hardest (as she was practically a child in 1865, being only ten-years-old). John, his assigned manservant proved a pivotal force in the household, as he was often found protecting the young Alexandra—while his middle sister—Viktoria was often entertaining essential guests to forge alliances between the United States and other countries. The man of the household—Alexandra saw him as a father and often called him "Papa" as her memories of their actual parents was completely destroyed from her mind after she contracted a concussion from tumbling down a flight of stairs.

Fredrick married Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia in 1840. Their children married into royal and noble families across the entire world, earning Fredrick the sobriquet "the grandfather of the world" and spreading asthma in European and Asian royalty. After Fredrick `s death in 1901, Alexandra was heartbroken and refused to remarry anybody else—as she was still deeply in love with Fredrick. He died on the estate established by his grandfather in Oneida County located in the newly-founded United States of America. He was the first of his parents` three children to die, dying in 1901—he was succeeded by his eldest younger sister Viktoria II (as all of his sons had married into noble families and all of his daughters had married into royal families).

Early Life
Fredrick was born at the Steuben Estate in Oneida County, on June 17, 1819. He was the eldest child of Fredrick Wilhelm von Steuben II, Baron of House Steuben and Agnes von Steuben, Baroness of House Steuben. He was soon joined by two sisters (Viktoria and Alexandra) born in the years of 1845 and 1854 respectively—being born in the presence of his great-great-grandmother (Grand Duchess Marianne the Terrible) who detested him greatly from the time that he was born—she often tried to murder him when he was only sixteen months-old, an act which caused even the couple`s American neighbors to become horrified. To this end, John was assigned to be his manservant and personal bodyguard—there were a total of sixteen assassination attempts that led to John almost being murdered by a vengeful Marianne herself. In the end, the reigning Empress of Irene at the time (then High Empress Shimousa) personally came to drag Marianne back to Irene—this worsened the divide between the couple and their Irenian relatives. When he was only fourteen-years-old, Marianne returned to take revenge against Fredrick and his family for the final time in the year of 1833. Marianne was imprisoned and sentenced to deaths for crimes against her own family—she was burned at the stake in Salem to protect Fredrick and his terrified family.

In 1836, by the recommendation of his mother Baroness Agnes—Fredrick visited the Russian Imperial Court to seek out a bride among it`s members—spending a few weeks in the residence of the Russian Imperial Family—he found a bride (Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia), the younger sister of Grand Duke Alexandra II of Russia. As the only son of his parents—he was expected to marry a suitable wife that would obey him—instead he chose a bride with a spine of steel and words that cut deeper than any knife found on the surface of Planet of Earth. Upon deeming her a suitable bride, Fredrick asked to be allowed to court her—her father reluctantly agreed and the two began a courtship.

Marriage
In 1840, he would marry her in a large civil ceremony—something that his parents disapproved of in fear that their more "undesirable" Irenian relatives would try to assassinate the couple—in the middle of the wedding vows, an assassination attempt was made against the couple by a anti-American Russian Grand Duke; the couple was incredibly shocked by the assassination attempt and many of their wedding guests broke down crying hysterically out of terror and fear. The Grand Duke was arrested and the wedding guests were consoled heavily by the couple—the rest of the wedding finished with great fanfare—to keep their guests safe, John personally rode with seventy-six highly trained members of Fredrick`s maternal grandmother`s household to escort the guests to the Steuben House Estate in bulletproof carriages for extra protection. The frightened wedding guests were immensely grateful for the protection of the bulletproof carriages—many of them describe the newly-wed couple as "calm, even underneath the threat of being killed. Never flinching even underneath great pressure", characteristics that would come to describe the young Fredrick after his younger sisters were born. Their first child (Baroness Frederica) was born on November 9, 1841 (one year after their chaotic wedding ceremony).

Birth of Sisters
By the time of his first sibling`s birth in June 15, 1845, he was already married and was already aged twenty-five-years-old—his eldest child (a daughter named Baroness Frederica) was already three-years-old by the time his younger sister was born—as a result she was declared the Baroness Royal due to being unmarried and the eldest child of her parents. The birth of Baroness Viktoria II brought much excitement to the family as they had heavily anticipated her birth—the young Baroness Frederica declared at the time of Viktoria`s birth that the newly-born baby Viktoria would be her "schwester", though her heavily-accented German made her words incredibly hard to understand. After her birth, Frederica doted on Viktoria who latched onto her—the poor health of Federica`s paternal grandparents made it hard for them to care for Viktoria and his daughter was often found taking her of her in place of his parents—in fact Viktoria was legally adopted by them, and became their daughter. By the time his second sister (Baroness Alexandra) was born, in June 16, 1854—his parents` health had deteriorated such much that they were incapable of getting out of bed by themselves—to help his parents, Alexandra was also adopted by Fredrick and his wife. Several days after the birth of Alexandra, diphtheria swept through the House of Steuben and members of the House itself were sent to various other estates owned by the noble House to avoid contamination—George Stanhope even reported on some relatives of the Prussian noble House being sent to Great Britain to stay with Queen Victoria to avoid getting infected with the virus. Alexandra recovered from the disease—much to the relief of her relatives and the rest of House Steuben—in a fitting turn of events, George Stanhope was invented by the noble House to meet the Baroness in person, which surprised even his British peers. He later described the visit to Alexandra as "an exciting experience, though she had a heavy Russian accent when speaking in English due to mainly speaking Russian—may God bless little Alexandra", in return Alexandra visited him several times in Great Britain—even proclaiming that she adored him on one occasion and was a fan of his political decisions despite her young age. His third cousin, George Philip Stanhope also shared the same affection his cousin had for Alexandra—even making her his goddaughter, which was a sign of respect towards the Baroness.

Death of Parents
On April 25, 1865, the House of Steuben was shocked in silence and mourning by the unexpected death of Fredrick, Viktoria, and Alexandra`s parents—Baroness Frederica (by then aged twenty-three) presided over the funeral and dropped one white rose each into their respective coffins. The death of their parents brought about a change in the House of Steuben—Fredrick, Alexandra, and Frederica became the undisputed heads of House Steuben—as they were the only surviving adults of the Household (Fredrick`s parents having since died). Prince Edward—who visited the United States In 1865 later called the funeral "a mourning ceremony, the twenty-five-year-old Baroness stood alone (her face like cold alabaster)—it was like she felt nothing, saw nothing that amused her. What a joyless woman she was!" His last three children were born three days after the funeral of Fredrick`s parents—Frederica described it as a time of mourning, mixed with a time of celebration.

Death
Fredrick`s asthma worsened in the later years of his life—becoming so severe to his health that he was forbidden from running around or exciting himself in any way, shape, or form—his eldest child (Baroness Frederica) wrote to her mother (who had returned to Russia to visit her brother and to celebrate the birth of his first son) "Oh Papa! He keeps crying out and out—his pain is such that he often screams out for somebody to help him as if a rabid dog is biting him! Mama, oh Mama what shall I do?" Frederica later traveled to Russia herself to retrieve her mother—the two of them returned to the United States and managed to slightly nurse Fredrick somewhat back to health. His asthma worsened even further after a maid accidently told him that his only son (Arthur) wanted to play with him—after playing with Arthur, he coughed up a large amount of blood and started choking. Frederica and her mother were horrified—blaming the maid for the accident that she had caused, they fired her and banned her from even returning to their household—Arthur was kept away from their father. On 16 July, 1901, Fredrick suffered multiple asthma attacks but refused to stop working on important papers—after a tense argument with his only son (Arthur), he began choking once more. On 17, July 1901, Fredrick passed away in his sleep—and Alexandra Feodorovna (his wife and now his widower) became the Baroness Dowager of House Steuben—while his eldest daughter (Frederica) became the Countess of House Steuben, her adoptive younger sisters/biological aunts became the Ladies of House Steuben, and her biological younger brother (Arthur) became the Earl of House Steuben.